LibSearch

In LibSearch, you use one search to browse the library catalogue and the metadata of dozens of publishers, such as Kluwer, Elsevier, Springer, EBSCO and Wiley.

LibSearch also allows you to search the catalogues of (inter)national libraries, including the Dutch national catalogue, PiCarta.

How to use this subject guide

• Use the search box to search within this subject guide or use the navigation to browse.
• Create a deep-link to a specific section by clicking on the # next to the section title.
• Generate a PDF for printing or sharing purposes by clicking on the PDF-icon at the top right of this guide
• Use the feedback options below each section of this subject guide to let us know if it was helpful, or report missing info or errors.
• Feel free to contact one of our subject specialists.

Sign in to LibSearch to use personalised search functions, like reserving and requesting books and save your search results in lists.

You can also manage your loans via your LibSearch account.

Sign in to LibSearch on the top right menu of the Online Library and the LibSearch results screen.

Activate account or request a new password

To activate your LibSearch account or request a new password, you need your 6 digit UM/azM card number (see image).

Step 1

Click on the button below and open the request window. Fill out your 6 digit card number and press “Set/reset new password”.

A message with an activation link will be sent to the email address registered with us. This is most likely your Maastricht University or azM/MUMC+ address. Follow the link in the mail for Step 2.

Step 2

The activation link in the email will open a page with a form (see image).Fill out your card number (= User Name), and choose your password.

Only fill out your card number (= User Name), and choose your password. After activation or password change you can close the tab/page and go on at (or get back to) this page to:

After activation or password change you can close the tab/page and go on at (or get back to) this page to:

1. Start your search in the search box at the top
2. Go to My LibSearch  for loans, lists and reservations

You can access My LibSearch directly from the top right menu of the Online Library and the LibSearch results page (see the first part of this section).

No activation email or other activation issues?

For all your questions and problems regarding activating your account and signing in to LibSearch we have a specialised support team in place.

In case you don’t receive the activation message in your mailbox within a few minutes after your request, you might check your spam folder first.

To contact our LibSearch support team for help:

• Go to one of the Library Information Desks for personal assistance
• Use our online support service to submit your request

In order to reserve a book

• Click the title of the book in your search overview
• Under Availability, under Maastricht University, you can see where you can find a copy in our library, and if the book is available for lending or for reference only.
• If the book is available you can go to the library and pick it up yourself. You can place a hold on a book, but only if it is on loan, or in the closed stacks.
• Log on to LibSearch with your card number and password. Are you a first-time visitor? Please follow the steps under Your Account to create and activate your personal account.
• To place a hold: click the button Place Hold.
• Click the Place Hold button, choose your pick-up location and submit. You will receive an email as soon as the book is available for you.

If a book is not available in our library, under Availability you can see a list of Dutch Libraries that do have the book in their collection.

With the Request Item button, you can request the book via PiCarta with your Inter Library Loan (ILL) account.

More information about ILL

You can use LibSearch to find an article or a book you already know, but also to find literature about a specific topic, or to quickly get inspiration about a topic.

For searching UM master theses, you have to use a separate catalogue.

To do a comprehensive literature search, we strongly advise you to use our subject specific databases.
These databases provide specialised options, not offered by LibSearch. For example, the option to save searches, using a thesaurus or citation searching.

Basic Search

• Enter your keywords in the search bar
  When you use multiple keywords, LibSearch connects them by adding ‘AND’.
    
• LibSearch uses a ‘keyword index’ for finding results
  The LibSearch index includes author, title, ISBN, publisher, topics and year of publication.
     
• Use Boolean operators (AND, OR or NOT)
  Use capitals for the operators (e.g. communication OR media).
    
• Search for combinations of words
  When searching for words you want to appear in a specific order, put the words in quotes, e.g. “Positive psychology”.
      
• How to search for an exact phrase in title
  When you quickly want to find items like the e-journal “Nature”, type ti= Nature. The first result is the one you are looking for. You can also use the advanced search option below the search box. Use the filter option “title phrase”, fill in “Nature” and click on the search button.
    
• Truncate with *
  For example, when using market* you will find results that contain words like market, markets, marketing, marketplace, etc. There have to be at least three characters before the *.
    
• Use wildcards to replace a character
  # for one character. For example, wom#n will find results that contain woman and women. There have to be at least three characters before the #.
  ? for more characters. For example, re?tion will search for reaction, recreation, refraction, relaxation, etc.
    
• Filter your search results
  You can always filter your search results using the options/filters on the left side of the screen.
    
• Scope of your search
  By default, the setting for the results presentation is “Library and Relevance“.
  This means that the order of the presented search results is based both on the number of times your search words appear in the keyword index, and whether the results are from the UM collection, including articles you can access online. You can change this on the top left of your results screen, under “Sort by“.

Advanced Search

• You find the Advanced Search beneath the search bar
  In addition to refining the search terms, it is also possible to define the databases you wish to search and the type of publication (book, certain journal volume, etc.).
  If you want to search for publications in one or more specific databases you can check these under “All databases”.
     
• Non-default databases
  In the Advanced Search, you can mark the non-default databases to search them. They are not in the list of default databases because adding them will significantly slow down the search.

It is important to know that not all databases offered by the UM Library are covered by LibSearch. Some publishers don’t want their journals, books or databases to be indexed by other parties. This happens particularly in the field of law.

Good news: Kluwer Navigator has been indexed in LibSearch!

• Access/View button
  The Access/View button next to a search result will lead you directly to the full-text of articles, journals and e-books.
  Links to tables of contents of books and other additional information can be found under “Other Links”.
• Availability information
  If you need more information about which publishers or platforms give access to the full-text you are searching for, click on the title of the article and check under “Availability”.
• Journals and newspapers
  Please note, LibSearch doesn’t make a distinction between journal articles and newspaper articles. In LibSearch they are both ‘articles’.
  If you don’t want newspaper articles in your search results, you can mark the option ‘Peer Reviewed’ at the left side of the screen, to limit the search to peer-reviewed articles only.

It can occur that you do not gain access to a specific item, even though you should be able to.

If this is the case, please let us know as soon as possible. We will try to solve the problem.

If you searched for the e-journal or article through LibSearch, please check the publisher’s website as well (a link is available in your search result). It is quite possible that the e-journal or article is available there.

If you can’t access the item, please let us know and we will try to solve the issue.

Please note: Access via the Maastricht University network is required. Read more about connecting to the university network.

You can report broken full text links to request the corrected link URL. You also help us to improve link quality. Click on “report a broken link” and fill in the form. Library staff will repair this broken link as soon as possible.

You find this service in LibSearch:

You also find this service in A-Z titles:

If a book is not available in our library, under Availability you can see a list of Dutch Libraries that do have the book in their collection.

With the Request Item button, you can request the book via PiCarta with your Inter Library Loan (ILL) account.

More information about ILL

Almost all of our e-journals are available in LibSearch through the search field.

As an alternative, you can use the e-journal list or e-book list.

LibSearch offers several options to manage your search results.

When you search in LibSearch, the initial search results page shows just one edition, a default edition. This is the most recent matching edition your library holds. It matches as much as possible your search criteria, so if you include a date, publisher, editor or a language limit, the search result shows an edition that matches those criteria. When clicking on ‘view all editions & formats’ you see the other (older) editions our library holds. Afterwards the editions & formats of other libraries are displayed.

The benefit of “group related editions” ticked on, is that it clusters your search results. It summarizes all editions in one result, sorted by “locally held” and “most recent”. It improves your search experience.

When “group related editions” is ticked off, all results show individually.

You want to save your repetitive research tasks with complex Boolean logic, multiple facets and specific databases to track new publications from an array of disciplines? LibSearch offers you a new service.
It is possible to reproduce your research queries repeatedly to your user account. After authenticating you will see the option to save the search under “Search Tools”. With your LibSearch user account you may save up to 100 searches and manage these searches from your account page.

Clicking “Save this search” produces a confirmation of the saved search criteria with an action to view saved searches. You have access to your saved searches from the navigation bar or from the dropdown menu in your account.

When you want to view, re-run or delete your saved searches, go to your account details.

Need help?

• Read more on LibSearch on our service page LibSearch, the UM Library search engine
• Or contact a LibSearch specialist via Ask Your Librarian

LibSearch offers the possibility to preserve your search context by reusing these filters without manually selecting them for each search in a search session.

When searching with filters, such as formats or date ranges, you can use them multiple times throughout the same search session.

The “Selected Filters” box contains options to turn off this feature, to remove individual filters from the search and to reset the search to the standard situation.

UM master theses are available via a separate service: UM master theses.

Theses of UM students are not available in LibSearch.

How to search

How to borrow

How to renew loans

More library instruction videos

Click on the pictures to enlarge them

How do I search an article in LibSearch

How to search for an exact phrase in title

How to use Editions and Formats

Use the View Online button

Use LibSearch as UM catalogue